As you have learned Christopher Columbus (link) did not "discover" America. In fact he wasn't even the first European to "discover" America. Recent research proves that a Viking, Bjarni Herjolfsson, was the first European to sight North America in 985 or 986. Another Viking captain, Leif Eriksson, not only reached North America but established a colony, called Vinland, in present-day Newfoundland (link) around 1000 A.D., five hundred years before Columbus. But there are many other, though less supported, "discovery" theories: The Irish claim to have sent an expedition during the ninth or tenth century; a ship's bell found off the coast of California suggests that perhaps the Chinese or Japanese reached the Californian coast before any European reached the Americas. As you will learn, on his first voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus did not land on soil which is presently that of the United States. Instead he "discovered" lands in the Caribbean, specifically the Bahaman islands and Hispaniola or what we today call the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The first European explorer to set foot on what is today U.S. soil was Juan Ponce de Leon who founded and named Florida in 1513 and "discovered" Mexico on the same trip (you recall of course that between eight and sixteen million Native Americans populated the Americas).
     You may be wondering why any of this is important to anyone other than historians! This is largely a lesson in what motivates individuals and nations. There is no denying that men like Christopher Columbus, Ponce de Leon, and the Vikings before them were brave and capable men. But what motivated them to take the risks they took? Even modern day astronauts have more of an idea about their destinations and environments in outer space than these early explorers who were truly going where "no man had gone before."
   Your text is somewhat limited, and other times flat-out wrong, on some key points. I will do my best to guide you through the reading without becoming too academic or technical. I also feel it important to say that I know that not all those who came to the early Americas were from Europe or came of their own free will. The Slave Trade is discussed in a future lesson.

Here are the readings for this assignment.

Please beging by reading pages 25-30 before answering the following questions.

1. Which Europeans does your text say first reached North America? 

2. What reasons does it give for their not being another expedition to the Americas until the 1400's? Do you believe this?

3.  Looking at page 25, For what reasons do Europeans choose to explore the new world?

4. Now look at the top of page 28 under "New Voyages." Why do other Spaniards follow Christopher Columbus? Doesn't it make sense that perhaps these reasons were also why Columbus himself came to the New World in addition to those on page 25?

5. Who financed and supported Christopher Columbus' 1492 expedition?

6.  Between August and October of 1492 Columbus sailed. Where did he land and who did he find there?

7. On a second trip in 1493 Columbus had a new goal, what was the goal, where did they land, and how did the native people react? 

8. Why did Ponce de Leon travel to the New World?

9. One of the reasons Spain became interested in exploration was because another country was also doing a lot of exploring as well. (No country likes to be last in technological or economical advancements - think of the nuclear arms race) After all Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain had turned down Columbus once and then changed their minds! Name the country.

For the record: Columbus believed, like most people of his time, that the world was round (not flat) and the world's first globe was constructed the year of his voyage. The only spice he found was tobacco, though the lure of it would be more than enough to fuel its share of conflict for centuries to come in the Americas.
Please read pages 33-39. 

10. How did the system of ecomienda work?

11. What did the Spanish do to the Native Americans of Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico?

12. What was planted on Cuban and Puerto Rican plantations (and is the main ingredient of rum)?

13. What did Hernando Cortes (pictured above left) do in both Cuba and Mexico?

14. You may have heard of the phrase "Montezuma's revenge" which refers to the diarrhea one might get from drinking the water south of the border. You might now know the origin of the phrase - explain why Montezuma might want revenge.

15. What happened in present-day Mexico City in 1521?